Classic Poems from Jack Preluctsky are now available as a fun and humorous way to introduce children to Poetry on iOS devices and Mac OSX computers

San Francisco, October 28, 2013 – Wanderful Interactive Storybooks has released Jack Prelutsky’s classic children’s poetry book in interactive form as an App for iOS devices and Mac OSX computers. Originally released as part of the revolutionary Living Books series by Broderbund Software, “The New Kid on the Block” has been updated with new features and is the ninth title released in the new Wanderful series.

In this irresistible collection of 18 hilarious poems, renowned poet Jack Prelutsky displays an unerring instinct for subjects that are brought to life with characters that talk and move and sing and dance. These poems appeal to children, and adults will find them entertaining as well. Children are encouraged to learn the meaning of words by exploring the poems and their reading skills grow through word recognition as animations are trigged by tapping words, phrases, or pictures.

San Francisco, September 13, 2013 – Parents’ Choice Foundation has awarded six of its coveted Parent’s Choice Awards to Wanderful for their highly acclaimed interactive storybooks Apps. This makes a total of eight Parents Choice awards received by Wanderful – an award for every Wanderful App that has been submitted to Parents’ Choice for review.

The awards are Parents' Choice Gold Honor Awards for Arthur’s Birthday, Berenstain Bears Get in a Fight, Berenstain Bears In The Dark, and The Tortoise and the Hare. In addition to previously announced Parents' Choice Silver Honor Awards for Arthur’s Teacher Trouble and Harry and the Haunted House, Ruff’s Bone was Recommended by Parent’s Choice and the Wanderful Storybooks Sampler was Approved by Parents’ Choice.

“We are incredibly excited and grateful to receive these coveted Parents’ Choice Awards,” said Wanderful Founder and CEO Mickey W. Mantle. “The Parents’ Choice Foundation is meticulous in their handling of reviews and extremely selective in their awards. We are honored to be among the limited number of developers who have received Parents’ Choice Gold, Silver, Recommendations and Approvals.”

Free App has Seven Storybooks Including Arthur and The Berenstain Bears Stories and Over 300 Interactive Elements

SAN FRANCISCO – April 25, 2013 –Wanderful Interactive Storybooks, a leader in developing storybook apps for today’s digital kids, today introduced the Wanderful Storybook Sampler, featuring pages from the Wanderful interactive storybooks, originally published as Living Books.

The free app, now available on the Mac App Store, includes a fully interactive page from the most popular Wanderful storybooks, including Arthur’s Birthday, The Berenstain Bears Get In a Fight, Little Monster at School, Tortoise and the Hare, Ruff’s Bone plus the award-winning Arthur’s Teacher Trouble and Harry and the Haunted House.

Each page in the Storybook Sampler is fully interactive, just like in Wanderful’s complete storybooks; and virtually everything on the page comes to life when clicked. Every word is clickable and all words were recorded twice – once for story mode and once so children can build their language skills and create their own phrases. The app is “hosted” by Simon, the narrator from Wanderful’s classic version of the Aesop’s fable Tortoise and the Hare. For teachers, the Storybook Sampler also includes an Overview of Wanderful’s Classroom Activities guides and a preview of the Classroom Activities guide for one of the storybooks as PDF documents. The curriculum plans based on the storybook themes in the Classroom Activities guides are aligned with the new USA Common Core State Standards.

Each app includes an integrated lesson plan aligned with the Common Core State Standards

San Francisco – April 11, 2013 – Wanderful Interactive Storybooks, the award-winning developer of apps for today’s digital kids, announces the release of its interactive story apps for Mac computers running OSX. These apps, including the award-winning Harry and the Haunted House and Arthur’s Teacher Trouble, are part of the Wanderful storybook collection for iOS originally published by Living Books.

The eight apps are in US English. Most come preloaded with story content in English, Spanish and French although several have different language configurations. Users can toggle instantly between languages with either a mouse click or a tap on the keyboard. These Wanderful apps also include the Classroom Activities guide, which is an optional upgrade in the iOS versions. The guide, developed by teachers, creates lesson plans around each story’s themes aligned with the Common Core State Standards. The activities are grouped by grade level and by subject, including language arts, reading, social studies, science and art.

This Quirky and Offbeat Adventure Story is Now Available in English and Spanish on iPhone, iPad and iPod touch

San Francisco – March 18, 2013 – Wanderful Interactive Storybooks, the award-winning developer of apps for today’s digital kids, has released its latest interactive story “Ruff’s Bone.” Originally published by Living Books, Ruff’s Bone has been updated with new interactive features and is the latest storybook app released by Wanderful.

Ruff's Bone is an offbeat adventure of Ruff’s far-ranging hunt to find his bone. This determined dog’s search leads into a cave, high up in the clouds, back to the bottom of the ocean and even up a ladder to another planet. It’s an out-of-this-world reading experience with surprises on every page.

The storybook comes with both English and Spanish for one price, and users can toggle between languages dynamically from any page, a powerful feature beyond anything found in other storybooks. Like other Wanderful storybooks, the READ TO ME mode allows children to enjoy the story experience in a more traditional format.

“We are thrilled to launch Ruff’s Bone for iOS devices,” said Wanderful Founder and CEO Mickey W. Mantle, “Users of our other apps have been looking forward to this story.“ Wanderful apps are highly intuitive and encourage children to explore each storybook page for all its hidden content. With pages of animation and hundreds of interactive antics, the apps provide a richer interactive experience on one page than many other story apps offer in a whole book.

The “Ruff’s Bone” App is available for $4.99 for iPhone, iPad and iPod touch on the App Store. A premium upgrade is available – $2.99 via In-App Purchase – which includes a 60 page Classroom Activities Guide.

The Wanderful Sampler Features Pages from Six Interactive Storybooks, Including Arthur and The Berenstain Bears

LAS VEGAS – January 8, 2013 at the Consumer Electronics Show – Wanderful Interactive Storybooks, award-winning developer of apps for today’s digital kids, has announced that the Wanderful Storybook Sampler is now available for bundling with select device manufacturers. The Sampler features pages from all Wanderful interactive storybooks. Localized versions are available in English, Spanish, German and French, and the Sampler also comes in a UK English version, with all words spoken in proper British accents.

The US version of this free app is currently available on the App Store, and includes fully interactive pages from all the currently available Wanderful storybooks, including The Berenstain Bears Get In a Fight, Little Monster at School, Tortoise and the Hare and the award-winning titles Arthur’s Teacher Trouble and Harry and the Haunted House. The Wanderful Sampler is designed to benefit device partners in two ways: First, it provides a fully engaging story experience with over 300 distinct points of interactivity. Second, it enables partner monetization, as all storybook samples can provide links and incentives to purchase the full interactive story on a variety of App stores. Plus, Wanderful will add a new page to the Sampler with the release of each new storybook app.

Classic Marc Brown Story is Now Available in English and Spanish for Reading Fun and Story Play on iPhone, iPad, and iPod Touch

SAN FRANCISCO – January 8, 2013 –Wanderful Interactive Storybooks, award-winning developer of interactive storybook apps for today’s digital kids, has introduced the children’s classic “Arthur’s Birthday” for the new year. This Marc Brown story, originally published by Living Books, has been updated with new features and is the latest storybook app released by Wanderful.

Arthur’s Birthday tells a story of how children sometimes feel they must choose between friends as Arthur and his friend Muffy are each planning their birthday parties for the same day. The story comes to life with interactivity on every page encouraging readers to fully interact with all of the characters and words for hours of story fun. This imaginative reading experience is full surprises as Arthur creates a solution that includes all their friends.

Mantle Will Join the Kids@Play Panel to Discuss Cutting-Edge Apps and Books for Kids.

SAN FRANCISCO – January 2, 2013 – Wanderful CEO-Founder, Mickey W. Mantle, will join the “Cutting-Edge Apps and Books for Kids” panel January 9th at the 2013 CES. The panel promises to be one of the highlights of the Kids@Play Summit. On the panel, the former Pixar, Gracenote and Brøderbund executive will be speaking to the differences, issues and challenges from the days of physical software distribution to today’s worldwide digital software distribution through app stores such the Apple iTunes and Amazon App stores.

This Free App Includes All Available Wanderful Titles, Plus Over 250 Interactive Elements.

SAN FRANCISCO, CA – December 13, 2012 – Wanderful Interactive Storybooks, a leader in developing storybook apps for today’s digital kids, has introduced the Storybook Sampler, featuring pages from all Wanderful interactive storybooks, originally published as Living Books. The free app, now available on the App Store, includes a fully interactive page from each of the currently available Wanderful storybooks, including The Berenstain Bears Get In a Fight, Little Monster at School, Tortoise and the Hare, and the award-winning titles Arthur’s Teacher Trouble and Harry and the Haunted House. Plus, Wanderful will add a new page to the Sampler with the release of each new storybook app.

Each page in the Storybook Sampler is fully interactive, just like in the company’s complete storybooks; and virtually everything on the page comes to life when tapped. Every word is tappable and all words were recorded twice – once for story mode and once so children can build their language skills and create their own phrases. The app is “hosted” by Simon, the narrator from Wanderful’s classic version of the Aesop’s fable Tortoise and the Hare. For teachers, the Storybook Sampler also includes Wanderful’s Classroom Activities Overview and a Classroom Activities Preview for one of the storybooks, both as PDF documents. Based on the storybook themes, the curriculum plans in the Classroom Activities guides are aligned with the new USA Common Core State Standards.

“The Storybook Sampler lets families and teachers try out all the Wanderful Apps with one simple download,” said Wanderful Founder and CEO Mickey W. Mantle. “It’s an engaging story experience with over 250 interactive elements, plus options for parents to customize the app for their children’s learning styles and easy links to the full versions of their kids’ favorite stories.”

Wanderful apps are highly intuitive and encourage children to explore each page for all its hidden content. With hundreds of interactive antics per app, the full storybooks provide a richer interactive experience on one page than many other story apps offer in an entire book. The full storybooks each come with both English and Spanish, which can be dynamically selected from any page. A corresponding Classroom Activities guide, aligned with the Common Core State Standards, is available for each app.

The free Storybook Sampler App is available for iPad, iPhone, iPad mini and iPod touch on the App Store.

"Harry and the Haunted House" was the first Wanderful App to win this award.

SAN FRANCISCO, CA – December 11, 2012 – Wanderful, Inc. has been awarded the prestigious Editor's Choice Award from Children's Technology Review for its interactive storybook, Arthur’s Teacher Trouble. “Arthur” is among the new apps originally published by Living Books to be enhanced and updated for iOS devices by Wanderful.

Children's Technology Review honored Arthur’s Teacher Trouble in its December 2012 issue. Reviews measure ease of use for children, educational value, entertainment value, design features and overall product value. The interactive story tells the tale of how Arthur learns to cope with his strict new teacher, Mr. Ratburn, and compete in a school-wide Spelling Bee. Children’s Technology Review highlighted the app’s humor and “delightful” graphics, plus “the ability to toggle between English and Spanish or jump to any page with a new table of contents feature.” These are hallmarks of Wanderful and Living Books design, creating engagement within each page of the storybook.

“It’s been a labor of love to update and introduce these highly interactive storybooks to a new generation of kids,” said Mickey W. Mantle, Founder and CEO at Wanderful. "We are honored that Children’s Technology Review has awarded Wanderful with our second Editor’s Choice Award, this time for Arthur’s Teacher Trouble.”

Classic and Award-Winning Interactive Storybook Apps Will Be On Sale All Weekend Long

SAN FRANCISCO – November 22, 2012 – Wanderful Interactive Storybooks announces the Wanderful Weekend – a five day celebration of interactive story apps Thanksgiving Day through Cyber Monday.

Each day Wanderful will feature one of its storybook apps at half price. This includes the award-winning Harry and the Haunted House, Arthur’s Teacher Trouble starring PBS-favorite Arthur, and the newly-released Berenstain Bears Get In A Fight. All these apps are part of Wanderful’s new collection for iOS of the classic interactive storybooks originally published by Living Books. All Wanderful apps are on the App Store.

Classic Story from Stan and Jan Berenstain is Now Available in English and Spanish for Reading Fun and Story Play on iPhone, iPad, and iPod Touch

SAN FRANCISCO – November 17, 2012 – Wanderful Interactive Storybooks, a leader in the development of interactive storybook apps designed for today’s digital kids, has introduced the children’s classic The Berenstain Bears Get In A Fight for the holiday season. Originally published by Living Books, Get In A Fight has been updated with new features and is the fifth storybook app in the new Wanderful series.

Telling the story of a small argument that escalates to the point where neither Brother Bear nor Sister Bear can remember what they were fighting about, The Berenstain Bears Get In A Fight comes to life on every page as it allows readers to fully interact with all of the characters and words for hours of interactive fun. This imaginative reading experience is full surprises on every page inviting kids to read and play along with Brother Bear and Sister Bear as Mama Bear helps them settle their differences.

“We are really proud of how well this great story experience translates to the iOS,” said Wanderful Founder and CEO Mickey W. Mantle.

A second Wanderful title - The Tortoise and the Hare – is also recommended

SAN FRANCISCO, CA – October 16, 2012 – Wanderful, Inc. has been awarded the prestigious Editor's Choice Award for from Children's Technology Review for its interactive storybook, Harry and the Haunted House. “Harry” is the fourth title originally published by Living Books to be enhanced and updated for iOS devices by Wanderful.

Children's Technology Review honored Harry and the Haunted House in its October 2012 issue. Reviews measure ease of use for children, educational value, entertainment value, design features and overall product value. The interactive story tells the tale of Harry and his friends searching for their lost baseball in the “haunted” house across the field, overcoming their overactive imaginations in the process. Children’s Technology Review highlighted how “each room of the house is full of animated surprises that are designed to support the story” and how parts of the story are “told during the page turn transitions.” These are hallmarks of Wanderful and Living Books design, creating deeper engagement and exploration with the entire story. As Children’s Technology Review said “There's no doubt that the Living Books still have their magic.”

"We are thrilled that Wanderful has been honored with the Children’s Technology Review Editor’s Choice Award” said Mark Schlichting, Chief Creative Officer at Wanderful and author of Harry and the Haunted House. “And we’re excited that CTR is recommending Wanderful’s Tortoise and the Hare app as well.”

Author Mark Schlichting’s Seasonal Classic is Now Available in English and Spanish for Imaginative Spooky Play and Reading Fun on iPhone, iPad, and iPod Touch

SAN FRANCISCO – October 8, 2012 –Wanderful Interactive Storybooks, a leader in the development of interactive storybook apps designed for today’s generation of digital kids, has introduced the slightly spooky, highly fun “Harry and the Haunted House” just in time for Halloween. Originally written by Mark Schlichting for the revolutionary Living Books series, “Harry and the Haunted House” has been updated with new features designed by Schlichting himself for the new Wanderful App launch.

Schlichting is the creator of the beloved line of Living Books, the classic titles originally published by Brøderbund Software and seen as the first interactive storybooks for kids. As Wanderful’s Chief Creative Officer, Schlichting is now working to reinvent and reintroduce the Living Books titles for young and emerging readers (and their families) everywhere.

Telling the tale of how kids with overactive imaginations can make things can seem a little scarier than they really are, “Harry and the Haunted House” comes to life on every page as it allows readers to fully interact with all of the characters and words for hours of slightly spooky interactive play. Inviting kids to read and play along with Harry and his friends as they retrieve their baseball lost in the “haunted” house across the field, this imaginative reading experience is full of animated content and surprises on each page.

SAN FRANCISCO – September 11, 2012 –Wanderful launched today a new collection of engaging and multilingual interactive storybook apps for iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch based on classic titles originally published as Living Books by Brøderbund Software. These interactive storybook apps deliver imaginative and fully interactive experiences for young and emerging readers through high-quality animated content loved by children, parents and teachers alike. The three new apps –Mercer Mayer’s “Little Monster at School,” Marc Brown’s “Arthur’s Teacher Trouble” and Aesop’s “The Tortoise and the Hare,” – are available beginning today on the App Store.

Wanderful apps are highly intuitive and encourage children to explore each story and all its content. With original production budgets approaching a million dollars each, every app features custom music, extended animation and hundreds of interactive hot spots and antics, providing a deeper experience and more interactivity on one page than other story apps offer in total. While fully interactive at the page level, each app also includes the classic “Read to Me” mode that lets young readers watch and listen to the story play automatically.

Wanderful has created an easy-to-use dynamic language function that allows readers to switch languages on-the-fly from anywhere in the story – a stunningly simple and powerful feature unlike anything found in other interactive storybooks or eBooks. Launching with English, Spanish and French, future versions of the products will be available in Japanese, German, Italian, U.K. English and Brazilian Portuguese.

“Wanderful’s new interactive storybooks bring back the beloved and best-selling Living Books. These rich experiences enable today’s digital families to read, play and learn together,” said Mickey W. Mantle, president and CEO, Wanderful. “Each Wanderful interactive storybook is a truly ‘wanderful’ experience – full of surprises, whimsy and humor – and an invitation to discover because everything inside each storybook is alive.”

The Little Monster at School, Arthur's Teacher Trouble and The Tortoise and the Hare Apps are available for $4.99 from the App Store on iPhone, iPad and iPod touch or at The Apple iTunes Store for Wanderful Storybooks. A premium upgrade is available for all three apps – $2.99 via In-App Purchase – which includes a 40-80 page Classroom Activities guide as well as regular feature updates. French can be added for a $1.99 In-App Purchase and is included in the Little Monster and Arthur Apps premium upgrades.

Explore pages from each of our popular storybooks. Every page in the Storybook Sampler comes alive with interactive elements, sounds and music from the original stories. FREE STORYBOOK SAMPLER

Harry and the Haunted House

Winner of the Children's Technology Review EDITOR'S CHOICE AWARD. A slightly "spooky" tale of how sometimes the scariest thing in the house is our own imagination. Join Harry and his friends as they retrieve their baseball lost in a “haunted” house.

A story about studying hard and working towards your goals. Arthur learns to cope with his strict new teacher, Mr. Ratburn and compete in a school-wide Spelling Bee. Will he study hard for the competition?

In this classic Aesop's fable, the Tortoise proves that being slow and steady wins the race. Join him as he accepts the much faster Hare's challenge to a race, one that doesn't turn out as the Hare had planned.

A story about making a new friend at school. Join Little Monster on a fun-filled day at school as he explores different subjects with his classmates and makes friends with Yally, an often difficult fellow student.

A spooky story Brother Bear reads to Sister Bear keeps her, and eventually the entire family up all night long. The next day, Papa shows Sister how to take charge of her imagination and in the end it’s Brother who is a little afraid in the dark.

A story of how children sometimes feel they must choose between friends. Arthur and Muffy are each planning their birthday parties for next Saturday afternoon. How will their friends decide which to attend?

An offbeat adventure of Ruff’s far-ranging hunt to find his bone. His determined search leads into a cave, high up in the clouds, back to the bottom of the ocean and even up a ladder to another planet.

Children learn the meaning of words by exploring poems. They'll meet an ugly dog, a leaking baby and the exploding "Bloders". They giggle at the antics of a chorus line of 40 dancing bananas and laugh as fearless Tillie eats her fiery chili. Packed with songs and much more!

When an owl disturbs Stella's home, this love able baby bat is saved by and raised by birds. She learns the ways of birds, but eventually, Stella grows to discover her true identity and the readers see how differences can be virtues, even in the same family.

“It is my great pleasure to inform you that your product has been awarded the Editor's Choice Awardas printed in the latest edition of Children's Technology Review.” (see the award here)- Warren Buckleitner

Award given to: Harry and the Haunted House App

“Everything I touch is interactive… one of my favorite things is that this is bilingual.” - Laurie Schacht, Toy Insider Mom on ABC Money Matters

“This is one of the best designed interactive children's books I've ever seen, and time was taken to get every small detail absolutely right.”

David Winograd, reviewing Harry and the Haunted House

“This is a really cute and relatable story, with some great interactive features. It includes a fully functional Spanish version -any text in the illustrations change to Spanish too! ”

“The apps feature custom music, extended animation and hundreds of interactive 'hot spots.' Readers can also switch languages within the story itself.” T.H.E.Journal

"They lit up the room – I had a chance to share them with the kids I was with and they couldn’t get enough of them.”

Jeff Bradbury, TeacherCast

"I'm glad they're making these products accessible. Children learn through different modalities. There is research indicating that children with autism have learned successfully through products displayed on tablets. "It's a good idea to make learning more accessible to children. If it's fun and interesting for them to learn, so much the better".